Blogger Update (and other stuff)

Currently suffering from the sniffles *sniff* and the cough *woof*.

Yes, I still don't have a Facebook nor a Twitter account. Why do you ask?

***

In other news, if anyone is interested (or they know anyone who's interested), there's a nice condo unit for rent down south, i.e. near the South Luzon Expressway service beside Merville Subdivision.

Here are the details:

Raya Garden Condominium Unit, Surabaya Building, West Service Road, near SLEX and Merville, Airport view, 72 sqm unfurnished, 2 bedrooms, 1 T&B, monthly rent 20K, parking available for additional fee, contact #09178042005

It's a corner unit so it has two balconies and gives a great view of the airport and Manila Bay.

Here are some pics:

(A map of the premises)

(Infinity pool plus clubhouse)

(An outside view of the Surabaya building)

(A view of the inside, on the 14th floor)

It's a very nice place, if I do say so myself. If I had the money, I wouldn't mind taking up residence there.

Remaining Silent

Here's an issue* that's gotten my blood pressure up for this week, this time at noids' site Filipinowriter. Using the parallel of the Da Vinci Code, let's re-imagine it going this way:

Writer: I wrote a story about a religious figure getting it on with someone!
Some people: Oh noes! He wrote it so it must be true! Take it out! TAKE IT OUT!!!
Me: WTF?

Here's the actual text of the story. But that's not what got me all het up. The real issue is something called the spiral of silence by Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann. Here's the gist:

The theory asserts that a person is less likely to voice an opinion on a topic if one feels that one is in the minority for fear of reprisal or isolation from the majority (Anderson 1996: 214; Miller 2005: 277).

More interesting is this on "overcoming the silence":

The theory explains a 'vocal minority' by stating that people who are highly educated, or who have greater affluence, and the few other cavalier individuals who do not fear isolation, are likely to speak out regardless of public opinion (Miller 2005: 279). It further states that this minority is a necessary factor of change while the compliant majority is a necessary factor of stability, with both being a product of evolution.

What a crazy world we live in. But as I've said, why so serious?

(issue pointed out by kyu)


*Basically someone wrote an online story using a venerable religious school/institution as backdrop and some people disagreed with it because the story was about a priest and a woman having a relationship. Because of the criticism, the writer took down the story but put it back up with the title (which was the institution's) name changed.

Personally, I haven't read the story yet but I like the idea of using the backdrop to give flavor to the story. Of course such execution may vary.

Trench Humor in the Middle of the Cross-Fire

Thanks to Karl, I watched this funny cartoon involving two well-known Transformers plus a couple of recognizable robot characters. (Reference from here.)



A free Internet cookie for the first person who can guess Megatron's ringtone! (Both name of the song and singer!)

Bedraggled Beasties

You know traffic is really heavy-bad when you come up with a new term while waiting for your lane to inch forward:

eternity piss- When you're stuck in traffic and you really need to take a leak, and when you do find a nearby gas station with a decent bathroom, it takes you forever to pee.

Blame the rain that flooded all thoroughfares crossing South Superhighway Thursday night. I left Libis around 4:45 pm, got to Shopwise Makati around 5:30, and finally hit Taft around 9:30 pm. Imagine, the distance from the Pasong Tamo extension to the SLEX (South Luzon Expressway)-- usually 15 minutes even with traffic-- took two hours!

It didn't help that Buendia was solid with traffic AND was flooded with tire-high water. Trust me, vehicles passing by and the waves rocking your car gently is not a form of lullaby I'd recommend to anyone.

*shudders*

Hide and Seek

Why I cannot listen to Imogen Heap's lovely song "Hide and Seek" anymore without thinking about Saturday Night Live, The OC, and montage drama...

... better yet, watch for yourself.

The scene from The OC:




The SNL skit:





Damn funny. That is all.